A renewed interest in fractional currency

Back in the late 1980s, I put together a type set of Fractional Currency. The Union Government issued these notes during the Civil War to provide 5, 10, 25 and 50 cent pieces which took the place of the coins where were hoarded. There were also 3 cent pieces which were issued for a brief time.

The third issue of Fractional Currency had the most varieties. There were notes with red backs and greeen backs. When I formed my first collection, I bought only the green backs because they were cheaper. Now I'm going back and looking for the red backs. I bought this 25 cent piece at a local show.



Here is the 25 cent piece with the green back.



I have read that the red backs were issued first, followed by the green backs. The government was always trying to make things harder for the counterfeiters, which was a problem with these pieces. Today, it would not be worth a counterfeiter's time to make a fake 25 cent piece or much of anything else below a dollar.

 

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Fractional currency is a great area of collecting. A friend of mine has a nice collection. I have a few but never committed to collecting them seriously. I love yours.

Bruce

 

the 25 cent note issued during the Civil War would have 5-7 dollars of value in todays economy

 

The thing about collecting Fractional Currency is that it's still fairly inexpensive.

Here's a quick overview.

The first issue was called "Postal Currency." These pieces were really stamps and stamp dealers to carry them. They come with straight edges and perforated edges, like a stamp. This 50 cent note with the perforated edges was the hardedst one for me to find back in the day.



Counterfeiting was always a problem. The second issue had a "golden oval" around Washington's portrait to make it harder. The oval was really copper, and it usually toned brown. Sometimes it even turned green! I saw a counterfiet note which had a crude green frame around Washington.



The Third Issue was the most diverse. Each note was a different size. The small note, the 3 and 5 cent pieces, became very unpopular. They were replaced by the Nickel Three Cent Piece and the 5 cent nickel.

This 5 cent note has Spenser Clark for the portrait. Clark was a treasury official and very much alive when these were issued. He got into hot water for doing this.



The Third Issue was best remembered for the three 50 cent notes. The Lincoln note seems to be the most popular.



The Fifth and last issue had this piece which collectors call "The Bob Hope Note" because former Treasury Secretary, William Crawford, resembled the famous comedian. This note is fairly common.

Crowford ran for president in 1824, but suffered a stroke which ruined whatever chance he had. His opponents were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. The election went to the House of Representatives which elected Adams. Although Jackson had more popular votes and more votes in the Electoral College, he didn't win because he didn't have a majority in the Electoral College. When Adams appointed Clay to be Secretary of State, the Jackson supporters said that there had been a "corrupt bargain" between the two of them.

 

I bought my first fractional currency note last year at my local coin club auction. Bought it as a novelty with no intention of collecting these. But I hear the siren song singing me onto the rocks...